A player centered approach to youth soccer is important to facilitate maximum development. Players who can think for themselves and take responsibility for their own development will have great success in moving to higher levels of play.

The biggest aspect we can teach at this age are the technical aspects of the game that are required to play at the highest level. These aspects include: passing, first touch, dribbling, receiving, turning, shooting, heading, and defending. I will spend countless hours helping the players to become comfortable with the ball at their feet. I will spend more time teaching technique rather then tactics because without a solid foundation of foot skills a player can’t reach her full potential. Once we become very skilled on the ball we will progress into team shape and strategy so that the girls can start thinking and feeling the way the game "should be played"

I believe that soccer is a players game and that youth soccer in this country has failed so often to develop great players because we don’t allow the game to do the teaching. We live in one of the few areas in the world where there Isn’t a culture of free playing soccer in the streets.I will mandate that our model of youth development with the Patriots must include the philosophy of "street soccer" at every level, small sided games being predominantly incorporated into training which will allow for more problem solving and experimentation.

TRUTHS about children and sports

Fun is pivotal - if it’s not fun, young people won’t play a sport

Skill development is a crucial aspect of fun - it is more important than winning even among the best athletes

The most rewarding challenges of sports are those that lead to self-knowledge

Intrinsic rewards (self-knowledge that grows out of self-competition) are more important in creating lifetime athletes than extrinsic rewards are (victory or attention from others).

I am committed to the principles of Positive Coaching Alliance and against a “win-at-all-cost” mentality. To be honest you won’t find more competitive coaches as I hate to lose. However in my years of coaching experience I have seen far too many players walk away from the sport because of burnout. This generally comes from parents and coaches placing an extreme emphasis on outcome goals rather than process goals. ” A win-at-all-cost coach has only one goal – to win. A Positive Coach shares that goal (wants to win) but has a second goal that is even more important – to enhance the sports experience to help young people learn “life lessons” and positive character traits that will help them be successful throughout their lives. If I can teach your daughters to love the game and learn useful skills then the whole process has become a massive success. Of course we will win our share of games along the way!